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Get trained as a docent and monitor of Maunalua Bay through 
The Nature Conservancy is working with the community-based organization Mālama Maunalua on a grassroots effort to protect and restore the Maunalua region of Southeast O'ahu. Working with Mālama Maunalua and the community, the Conservancy recently completed a Conservation Action Plan (CAP) that identified the top 3 threats to Maunalua Bay as:
- Invasive alien algae
- Sedimentation and land-based sources of pollution and runoff
- Unsustainable use of marine resources
Efforts to restore the bay received a huge boost in June 2009 when the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) awarded funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to The Nature Conservancy and Mālama Maunalua to implement a large-scale invasive alien algae removal program as the necessary first step to restore habitat in the Kuli‘ou‘ou reef flats of Maunalua Bay.
Alien algae have been recognized as one of the top threats to our oceans’ health and recovery, in Hawai‘i and elsewhere. This threat is exacerbated by sedimentation from land-based sources which helps invasive algae get established and grow on reef flats. Compounding the problem, fishing pressure has dramatically reduced populations of plant-eating species like parrotfishes (uhu) and sea urchins. Once established, invasive algae drastically alter the seabed by smothering and killing corals and seagrass meadows, and overwhelming and destroying habitat for other reef life.
To address alien algae in Maunalua Bay, NOAA is providing $3.4 million in economic stimulus funding for jobs, equipment, supplies, and scientific studies. The funding will create 73 new positions, most of them full time, including as many as 60 invasive algae removal positions for 14 months, and additional positions for monitoring the impact of the project.
“We are thrilled to have this essential support at a time when both Maunalua Bay and our economy are struggling,” said Manuel Mejia, Project Manager for the Conservancy’s Maunalua Bay project. Mejia is leading the Conservancy’s Hawai‘i chapter work with Mālama Maunalua and state and federal partners to implement this project. “Over the past three years, volunteers have removed about 25 tons of invasive algae from a small portion of the bay. NOAA’s support will enable us to significantly scale-up this small community effort to a significant invasive algae removal project, targeting an additional 22 acres of the most affected areas of the bay, and hopefully, inspire other communities to do the same,” said Mejia.
“It will also enable us to employ local people, which is a fantastic way to engage our community in restoring this area to the vital recreational and food resource it once was. Our goal is to restore the bay to balance, so it can naturally control the growth of alien algae over time,” Mejia said.
Within the past 40 years, Maunalua Bay’s fisheries have declined by as much as 90%, with tremendous habitat loss in the nearshore areas. The condition of Hawaii's marine resources will continue to deteriorate without projects like this one, which has cultural and social impacts as well as biological ones.
Mālama Maunalua’s mission is to restore Maunalua Bay to its former health through a combination of values-based education and coordinated community management efforts. Extending from Kawaihoa to Kūpikipiki‘ō (also known as Koko Head point to Black Point), Maunalua Bay is one of Hawaii's largest bays. It harbors a broad array of marine resources, including areas of intact coral reef and limu beds, and at least two endangered Hawaiian waterbirds. The region of Maunalua Bay supports a population of approximately 60,000 residents and hosts thousands of visitors annually.
What the Conservancy Is Doing
The NOAA project will enable the Conservancy and our partners to make significant progress in addressing one of the top three threats to Maunalua Bay – alien algae. While some progress is being made on the other two threats – polluted runoff and unsustainable use -- an enormous amount of work remains to be done to restore the bay.
To begin to address land-based pollution, community members mapped the shoreline and all of the 
stormwater outlets that flow into the bay, shown as red lines in the above map. The Conservancy and Mālama Maunalua are now working with the Army Corps of Engineers to evaluate catchment basin design to reduce the amount of sediment flowing into the bay. Malama Maunalua is also launching an education campaign to raise awareness about what individuals can do in their homes to reduce land-based pollution.
To better understand fishing pressure in the bay, the Conservancy coordinated a year-long survey to determine the recreational catch levels and fishing effort in the bay. Survey results showed that while there is plenty of fishing going on in the bay, there is little catching. Additional work is needed to understand recreational uses of the bay and determine ways of reducing unsustainable human impact.
Our Partners
Mālama Maunalua
Mālama Hawai‘i
Polynesian Voyaging Society
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
State Department of Land and Natural Resources, Division of Aquatic Resources
Hui Nalu Canoe Club
Beach Environmental Awareness Campaign Hawai'i (B.E.A.C.H. )
Nature picture credits: Aerial, Maunalua Bay area © Ryan Tabata/Mālama Maunalua. Storm drains and outlets map, © Mālama Maunalua. All other photos © The Nature Conservancy.
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